"Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right."
-Henry Ford

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Summer is too close to being done for my comfort...

I can't believe we are already over half way through August. I am back to work tomorrow after my second and final week of holidays this summer. It will be strange being back at work because we have had one of the three of us on holidays since the end of June. I haven't seen my one coworker since the middle of July. I do feel refreshed and ready to get back at it. I just find it hard to believe that two weeks from now is the September long weekend already!

I had a good week off this week. We didn't do a heck of a lot, but it was relaxing. We were able to head out to Emma and Christopher lakes on Wednesday for the day. With a 70% chance of rain, we were expecting to have to spend the better part of the day indoors. We got to Emma in time for an awesome outdoor lunch from Aunt Doreen. We were just finishing up dessert when it started raining. Then it slowed down, so we headed over to Christopher Lake (after missing a turn and being a LITTLE bit lost until I called Arleen and got re-orientated). It was nice to visit with Arleen, and I think Kiwi liked watching the kids, even though she was on a leash and couldn't chase them like she wanted to. I was happy to finally take Jay to a very special place with so many good memories for me. A few minutes after we finished up giving Jay the grand tour, the sky opened up and it rained buckets! So we had perfect timing that day! We finished up the day with supper in PA at Ricky's. Other than that, I did some shopping, visiting, baking and yard work.

We had a tree moved into our backyard almost two months ago. It seems to be doing alright. It is definitely looking stressed from the move, and hot weather, but I think it will pull through. The true test will be next spring, I think. I guess we will see if it leafs out again, or dies. When we moved the tree from our friend's backyard we took a good chunk of grass with it. As we have watered the tree the grass has really sprouted up. I figured the tree could use the water more than the grass so I decided it was time to dig the grass up. It probably took me a total of one and a half or two hours to do it (about a 5-6 foot diameter circle), but I finished the last little chunk today. I also bought a soaker hose to water the tree so we could soak a larger part of the ground around the tree. Hopefully that will help it take root. I might also go to a greenhouse and ask about the possibility of fertilizing it, and what would be the best choice.

A week and a half ago we had a landscaper come out and check out our yard so we could get a quote on getting the front and back yards landscaped. We got the quote back last week and I think we are going to go with it. It is not cheap to hire someone to landscape, however I have seen some pretty shoddy looking self-made yards in our area, and I just don't have the confidence in my ability to do a good job. And I don't think I have the physical strength to do a lot of the work. I am pretty happy with our yard plan and it sounded like the landscaper could get working on it by the end of August or maybe early September. I would love to get it done before the winter.

I talked to the neighbour behind us the other day and he said he would be willing to build a fence for us between our properties. He helped build the one across the back of his yard and said it wasn't too much work. I offered to help in any way I could...I am sure I could operate a cordless drill, or hold screws or something :P